University of Leeds - School of Mathematics

 

Site Challenges

The building is situated in the heart of the campus which has over 30,000 students, so whilst the building itself was not occupied the neighbouring buildings were in continuous use. We worked alongside the University to ensure our programme caused minimal disruption to daily campus activity.
 

Services

One of the challenges of working on this Brutalist-designed building was the replacement of all the single-glazed Crittal windows and installation of new aluminium-framed, double-glazed curtain walling with mechanical and electrical services including lighting, heating, electrics, and data cabling. We worked with the client to provide early access to certain areas so cabling works could be undertaken prior to sectional possession dates, and coordinated the phased termination and isolation of existing services out of hours to ensure minimal downtime across the occupied building.
 
It was important that we liaised with the university’s infrastructure management team and retained building services consultant to ensure any connecting or extended systems, such as data, security and fire alarms, were consistent with existing systems.
 
Significant interior remodelling was built into the programme, with Clegg engaging closely with the structural engineer when undertaking the removal of partition walls to ensure the integrity of the building.
 

Environmental and Social Value

A key component of this project required us to replace significant quantities of Crittal glazing which were of keen interest to the conservation officer, and subject to a condition under the Listed Building Consent (LBC).

To satisfy the consent, the architect had specified a super-slim profile aluminium glazing system which was an emerging project in the UK, sourced from a German supplier. at the time, there was just one single approved UK-based fabricator/installer, although they were a fledgling company with a previous year’s turnover less than the value of the glazing package required on this scheme.

We worked with the glazing company to establish a supportive commercial structure where we purchased both glazing and aluminium profiles and engaged the fledgling company to undertake fabrication and installation on a far larger contract that they would have been equipped to undertake alone at that point in time.